Thomas Carper
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Thomas Richard Carper (born January 23, 1947) is a United States politician who has been a U.S. Senator from Delaware since 2001. A Democrat, Tom Carper served in the United States House of Representatives from 1983 to 1993 before becoming Governor of Delaware in 1993. He served as Governor until 2001. He was elected to the Senate in 2000, defeating a senior Republican, William Roth. The race was expected to be close, but due to Carper's proven record as governor, the strong performance of Presidential nominee Al Gore, and concerns about Roth's age, Carper won the race handily.
In December 2004 Carper was appointed as one of four deputy whips for Senate Democrats.
Senator Carper was born in Beckley, WV, grew up in Danville, VA, and graduated from Whetstone HS in Columbus, OH. He then attended Ohio State University where he was in Navy ROTC and was a member of Delta Tau Delta Fraternity while earning a Bachelors in Economics. Senator Carper served as a pilot in the US Navy for 5 years and saw duty in Vietnam. After Vietnam, he moved to Delaware and earned an MBA from the University of Delaware. Senator Carper remained in the Naval Reserve for another 18 years and retired with the rank of Captain.
As Governor, Senator Carper led an effort to cut middle and lower class taxes by 50%. He also instituted comprehensive education standards including a fully funded Head Start program, created a prescription drug benefit, and greatly reduced Delaware's state debt. As part of his tax cuts, he eliminated the marriage penalty, the gross receipts tax on business, and the estate tax. He further cut the public utility tax as another way of reducing tax burden on families.
As a Senator, Tom Carper has been noted as a moderate and is a member of the Democratic Leadership Conference, the so-called "third way". David Broder of the Washington Post called Senator Carper, "a notably effective and nonpartisan leader, admired and trusted on both sides of the aisle." Senator Carper has worked to institute a national energy policy, a balanced budget, strong environmental protections, welfare reform, and national education standards. Senator Carper announced in February 2005 that he was open to the consideration of President Bush's plans for Social Security overhaul through private accounts, but gave no indication of actual support for the plans.
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External links
- Official Senate website (http://carper.senate.gov/)
- Senator Carper's Address to the 2004 Democratic National Conventon (http://mfile.akamai.com/12294/mov/dncc.download.akamai.com/12294/07272004/tom_carper_100.mov)
| Preceded by: Thomas B. Evans, Jr. | United States at-large Representative from Delaware 1983–1993 | Succeeded by: Michael N. Castle |
| Preceded by: Dale E. Wolf | Governor of Delaware 1993-2001 | Succeeded by: Ruth Ann Minner |
| Preceded by: William Roth | U.S. Senator (Class 1) from Delaware 2001- | Succeeded by: Incumbent Template:End box Template:DE-FedRep Template:Current U.S. Senators |